Library 2.0: The Challenge of Disruptive Innovation

This was a paper published in 2006 after a conference. To put it as simply as I can (because it's a long paper) it's talking about how web 2.0 technologies and the connectedness of the internet has given the word library a new name. The New York public library for example, is an online library that serves the same purpose as Amazon. But other sites, like YouTube and even the Tallis Shorts, are also libraries as is the whole internet really. The paper talks about trends that we see in users of the internet; the knowledge, how people connect, search, investigate, participate. But I wondered how different this was to their real lives. People will respond differently when senses are taken away. You may be able to feel a keyboard, see the computer screen but you can't see the person you are talking to. If you are seeking libraries or information then why would you stop at a comment box and comment the person whose information you are reading?

The internet community is, for some people, easier to engage with and I think this is why schools should take new technologies seriously. If a new website is made that could be useful in a school then of course you have to be wary about who outside of the school may be accessing it but then anyone could walk through the school gates at the beginning of the day. There are risks with everything you do. For every one of my lessons the students all talk about work and send files to each other over MSN/MySpace and other websites because it's so efficient. The school should be promoting such websites not blocking them on the school server.